by Lola StVil
“Where have you been? Are you okay?” Dylann demands as I enter.
I nod, surprised by her questions.
“I’m fine,” I say.
“Lucas said you didn’t go home last night,” she adds.
I feel a spark of hope.
Was he worried that he’d pushed me away for good?
“I had stuff I needed to think about,” I say.
Dylann looks ready to question me further, but one look at my closed expression tells her it would be a waste of time. There’s no way I’m getting into what happened last night.
Only Dylann and Parker are in the room, and it occurs to me that I came from the other side of the world and still beat half of the team to school.
“Parker, can I talk to you for a minute?” I ask, suddenly nervous about what I’m going to say to her.
It’s not you, it’s me? Too cliché.
I think of you like a sister? Not entirely true.
Bad timing? Cop out.
She stands up and we walk to the back of the room. Dylann fusses with her cell phone, trying her best to look unobtrusive.
“Look, I just wanted to say I’m sorry about yesterday. You were trying to make me feel better and I was a jerk.”
“You were,” she agrees.
“I…” I start.
Luckily, her stern expression breaks into a smile and she interrupts me, because I still don’t know what I was going to say next.
“Forget it, okay? I should be apologizing to you. I just had a moment of stupidity. I think it was a side effect of a new powder I’m trying out.”
I should be pleased. She not only let me off the hook, but she’s also taking the blame herself. But a little part of me feels a bit stung. Kissing me was a side effect? So, she wouldn’t want to kiss me at any other time?
I shake the thoughts away. I’ve already upset one girl, I’m not in a rush to make it two.
“How about we agree we were both acting weird and never speak of it again?” I suggest.
Even as I say it, I wonder if she’s told Dylann.
“Works for me.” She grins as she turns and skips back over to where Dylan is sitting.
At least the awkwardness between us is gone now. Maybe I can even face Lucas.
As if my thoughts have summoned him up, the door opens and Lucas, RJ, and Ryder come in in a whirl of noise.
I glance at Lucas. He looks back at me, his face impassive. I have no idea if he’s still angry with me or not, but he does give me a barely perceptible nod which I take to be a good sign. I return the nod.
“Well, we’ve tried and failed,” Ryder announces. “Why don’t you two give it a go?”
He directs his statement at Dylann and Parker. Dylann looks to Parker.
“Lucas, you know Nix was right,” she starts.
Oh great, we’re back to this.
“He executed it all horribly, but that doesn’t change the fact that he was right.”
Thanks for that. I think.
“I’ve told you all it’s harmless,” Lucas protests weakly. “It’s not like I’m even talking to her or anything.”
“So it shouldn’t be too hard to stop then,” Ryder comments.
RJ speaks up. “It’s not like what you’re doing is going to achieve anything.”
I see Lucas’s face pale slightly. He sits down facing us, and for a moment, I’m reminded of someone being condemned by a jury.
Except we aren’t condemning him, I remind myself. We’re helping him. Or at least we’re trying to.
“I can’t,” Lucas says.
“Lucas, you’re being selfish!” Dylann screams.
We all look at her, dumbfounded by her outburst. She continues.
“Do you have any idea what it’s like? Summit is my sister and she was forced out of my life to protect her and the world. And now I find out you’ve been sneaking off to see her, putting everyone and everything at risk.”
“Why is this so hard for you?” asks Ryder.
I know the answer before he says it.
“Because I have feelings for her,” Lucas admits. “I’ve tried to stay away. Really I have, but I just can’t help myself. I don’t know what it is. She’s like no other girl I’ve met. Just something about her consumes me, and when I try to stay away from her, the thought of her smile, her laugh, it pulls me back in.”
As he’s speaking, the door opens again. I try to catch his eye, try to stop him, but he’s looking down at the floor, not meeting any of our eyes.
He finally looks up and sees the horror on our faces.
His face falls, and it takes him a second to realize that we aren’t looking at him. We’re looking behind him. Nikki stands frozen in the doorway.
It’s three weeks later and I can still see the hurt look on Nikki’s face as she stood in that doorway. I’m ashamed to admit a part of me was relieved that she looked much more upset than she did when I blurted out that Lucas had watched Summit.
She stood there, staring at us in horror, and we all stared back. No one spoke until Nikki turned and ran. Then Lucas jumped up and chased her down. I’ll never forget the look on his face in that moment. It was like he was broken.
He spent over a week just getting her to even talk to him. None of us thought he could fix this, but somehow, he did. I don’t know what he told Nikki, only that he promised her that he wouldn’t see Summit ever again, and that he would be the best boyfriend ever.
I’m sure there was more to it than that, but he wouldn’t tell us exactly what was said.
True to his word, he is being a good boyfriend to Nikki. He’s by her side all of the time, and he’s so attentive it’s kind of sickening to watch. She is slowly forgiving him, and I’m starting to believe they will get through this.
And Lucas seems to have forgiven me. We had a long talk where he admitted he was an asshole for risking what he had with Nikki over a fantasy that could never happen. I think he came pretty close to thanking me, but he drew the line at that one. I’m just glad we’re all back to normal and Summit Case is officially out of our lives for good.
“Earth to Nix.”
“Huh?”
I look up, pulled out of my thoughts, to find the whole team looking at me and laughing.
“We were waiting for an answer, bro.” Ryder laughs.
“An answer to what? Sorry, I was miles away.”
“I asked you who thought was going to win the big game tonight,” Ryder says.
“Oh that. The US for sure,” I tell him.
We talk about the stats of the last few Runner Ball matches between the US and Ireland for a while. It’s going to be a close game, but I’m confident we can take them. The others seem to agree.
“We should get going,” Parker says to Ryder.
He nods agreement, and the rest of the team decide to go with them. It’s been a good night. The dinner we all shared was full of giggles and lightheartedness. It’s only the second time Nikki has hung out with us as a group after Lucas’s revelation. I think deep down she knows none of us would have told her what he’d said if she hadn’t heard, and I guess it’s hard to learn you’re not on the inside. Not really.
We’d all put our lives on the line to protect her of course, and she’s a nice girl, but when it comes down to it, Lucas is one of us and Nikki is only really here because of him.
The group stand up and we all exchange goodbyes as they make for the door. Lucas pulls Nikki into his arms, and I can’t help but watch them out of the corner of my eye.
Lucas grins down at Nikki, and she returns his smile. They look happy again. In love.
“I’m going to fly Nikki home,” Lucas tells me.
She hardly needs a bodyguard; she could fly home in minutes, but I think it’s more about them spending some alone time together. Lucas still has a lot of making up to do and he knows it. It’s their anniversary next week, and he has something amazing planned.
The front door slams shut and I’m left in silence. My cel
l phone vibrates in my pocket. It’s a text message from Amelie. It says simply “we need to talk.”
Great, I thought I was done with them.
I decide she just wants to tell me officially that it’s over.
I text her back and immediately another message comes through telling me to meet her at the crypt. I decide to just go along with it. Now’s a good time to sneak away and wrap this thing up without any of the others even knowing I’m gone.
I know Lucas won’t be back anytime soon.
I throw on a jacket and fly to the meeting spot. Amelie is waiting for me.
She gives me a half smile as I approach her. The shadows of the evening flit across her face, making her look momentarily sinister, and I wonder again what I’ve gotten myself into with this group. I remind myself again that they are the good guys. Aren’t they?
“Amelie,” I greet her.
“Thank you for coming. Follow me,” she says.
She doesn’t wait for an answer. Instead, she leads the way through the crypt and underground. I follow her, and after a couple of minutes, I realize we’re going a different way to the last time she brought me here.
I make an effort to be alert and keep track of where she’s leading me. I don’t know why, I just know this is getting weirder and I want to know I have an escape route if it comes to that.
Not that I think it will, I tell myself.
She leads me into a clearing larger than the last one and infused with even more technology. I do a double take at the amount of hi-tech equipment these guys have. Amelie has turned to face me and she sees my expression.
“Impressive, huh?” she asks.
I nod.
She gets right down to business.
“You told me the threat had been neutralized, yet I see no evidence of that,” she says, leaving no room for argument.
“It’s fixed,” I tell her. “Just because there isn’t a trail of blood and dead bodies doesn’t mean it isn’t fixed. I was a bit more subtle than that.”
“We hoped you would be. That’s why I chose you,” she says with a wry smile. “But the problem isn’t fixed, Nix.”
I open my mouth to protest, and she holds up a hand for silence. I close my mouth again. Something tells me it’s pointless to argue with her. I decide to see what she has to say and then I’ll explain how I know it’s fixed.
She clicks her fingers, and a screen behind her bursts into life. I see the date stamp on the screen. The day before yesterday. The picture zooms in and I see Summit walking along the street with some friends.
I’m not sure what I’m looking for, but I keep watching. It doesn’t take me long to spot what Amelie means. The view pans out again slightly and I see him watching her from the doorway of a shop. Lucas.
Dammit.
“There has to be some mistake,” I say.
Amelie shakes her head sadly.
“You don’t believe that,” she says.
She’s right. I don’t. Lucas has conned all of us. I can feel my temper rising. How could he lie to me like that? To all of us? And to Nikki? How can he act like the perfect boyfriend and still be doing this?
“I think you’ll agree that something needs to be done about this,” Amelie says.
I nod.
“Yes. Of course. I’ll talk to Lucas again,” I say.
She shakes her head.
“We’ve gone past the point of talking about this, Nix. As you can see, the situation needs controlling. Now.”
“What do you want me to do?” I ask.
I’m afraid of the answer, but I have to know.
“Before I tell you that, I want to show you something else. It will be painful, but you need to see it.”
“What is it?” I ask.
“Your father was evil to the core,” she says.
Tell me something I don’t know.
“He did many terrible things, but arguably, the worst thing he did was the mass slaughter he committed at his sister’s sweet sixteen.”
I’ve heard enough about that to be inclined to agree with her, but I don’t see what any of that has to do with this.
“I’m going to show you a simulation that will allow you to see for yourself what he did to them, Nix,” she says.
I shake my head. “No. I don’t want to see that.”
“But you must,” she insists.
“Why?” I demand.
“Because what we are about to ask of you will be hard to do. And we need to remind you why you’re in this.”
“I know why I’m in this,” I tell her. “I’m in this to prove I’m nothing like that monster. I want to save lives, not take them. I don’t need to watch some movie to remind me.”
“So humor me,” she says.
I sigh and shrug my agreement. I couldn’t be made to feel any worse about what my father has done, so why not? It will prove to her that I’m in this.
She walks over to a large console and presses a series of buttons. She turns to me and signals that I follow her to a small door set into the wall.
She pushes it open and gestures for me to enter.
I step in before I can change my mind.
The room is small, no bigger than a cupboard. The walls and floor are dusty looking soil.
What is this place? I wonder.
Before I can think about it any further, the room before me begins to change. It widens and lengthens and it’s soon a large ballroom.
The walls and ceiling are covered in streamers of light in soft lilacs and bright silvers. The floor is spotted with dancing lights. It looks like a magical place. As I watch, a banner appears floating above the center of the room.
“Happy Birthday Pryor.”
That’s when I know Amelie was for real. She’s going to show me the massacre.
People are appearing now, and within minutes, the empty room is transformed into a busy party awaiting the guest of honor. Teenagers dance and chat excitedly, their eyes aglow with possibility. I spot a few familiar faces scattered here and there. I try to talk to them, touch them, but it’s soon obvious that although I can move freely amongst them, they don’t know I’m there.
I remind myself this isn’t real. It’s a simulation. A rerun of a memory. But it is real. It’s just not happening now. I think my head will explode if I let myself focus on that, so I make an effort to just watch and shut off my thoughts.
As I watch, the scene change. A door bursts open loudly. The partygoers look in the direction of the sound and I see their expressions change. Some look confused, others terrified, a few even look curious. The music cuts out as the crowd separates and he walks silently to the center of the room.
My father in all of his glory. He’s surrounded by an aura of darkness that I have heard about but never really believed in. I always thought people exaggerated how his very presence could turn their spines to ice, but now I see it for myself. Feel it for myself.
Malakaro makes his way through the crowd slowly, sizing up his victims.
"I assume you all know who I am?" he says in a cold controlled tone.
He stops in front of a girl who’s maybe eighteen. She’s a little shorter than he is. There is fear in her eyes, and when he reaches out and touches her face, her body trembles.
“Thank you all for coming to celebrate my dear sister on her special day. That alone will be the reason you die,” he says with a sinister smile.
His actions are quick and swift. He snaps the girl’s neck before anyone has the chance to react. It could be that minutes or even an hour go by. By the time Malakaro has finished, there is nothing left but a stream of red and silver blood mixing together.
The scene before me changes again. The screaming stops, replaced by the pained sobbing of an injured Quo who doesn’t look like she has long left. The place has been ravished, and the only people who remain are dead or close enough to it that no one could help them.
It looks like a slaughterhouse. I try to look away, but I can’t. I need to see this.
I need to see what my father has done. What evil he inflicted on the world. And why? Because the people before me made the mistake of being friends with his sister.
The smell of blood mixes with the thicker smell of bodily fluids, released on death. It’s a cloying, almost sweet smell, and it makes me want to gag. I can feel my eyes streaming, and my vision is becoming blurry but not so much that I can miss even a single detail of what lies before me.
I spot movement as someone enters. It can’t get any worse, can it?
Apparently, it can. I watch as Pryor and her team enters the room. Her face goes pasty white and she sways on her feet. I think she might pass out, but instead, she is forced to see what lies before her.
“Hello, sis,” Malakaro says pleasantly as he sips Coy from a champagne flute. All of them raise their hands and blast Malakaro. The flow of energy never makes it to him. There is a barrier between the steps and the center of the room. All of their powers can't break it.
“You’re late to your own party,” Malakaro says.
“WHY DID YOU DO THIS?” Pryor screams, full of rage.
“It’s your birthday, and I wanted us to have some time alone so we could talk. Families talk during major celebrations, from what I understand.”
“We are not a family, you sick fuck!” she cries out.
“You hate me. I hate you. We try to kill each other whenever we’re in the same room. I believe that’s the very definition of family.” He smirks.
He exchanges “pleasantries” with Pry and her team before getting to his point.
“I will let the barrier go. When I do, you will come to me and we will talk. It won’t take long. Then you can go back to your party.”
Her whole team objects, but after a little of his coercing, he manages to convince her to come willingly into the barrier.
“Now, I’ve kept a dozen or so humans alive. Any one of you tries to join my sister on the other side of the barrier and I will make the humans give themselves a lobotomy. Am I clear?”
She steps into the barrier with my father, trying to avoid stepping on the bodies out of respect. At one point her shoes are so covered in blood she almost slips, but manages to maintain her balance. Her eyes meet his, and she keeps a controlled tone.
“You would be wrong to think I’m afraid of you; I’m not. I’m ready whenever you are,” she vows.